Bbc

[Leigh]

Deliver now!

The revelation that Leicester City have been found to have bigger debts than was first thought suggests the Milan Mandaric deal could be the club's last chance. by bill anderson

City must not become the football equivalent of Farepak by not delivering the Christmas present the fans want - the new owner who can take the club forward.

That due diligence threw up unforeseen "legal and financial issues which merit further investigation", as Mandaric's advisors said in their statement, hints strongly that City need his money more than ever. And right now.

City chief executive Tim Davies assures me that the club is financially stable, but City admit the on-going absence of the parachute payments makes it increasingly difficult, and they have indeed worked hard to reduce the wage bill.

The big question must be, how long can the tight financial situation go on at a time when Mandaric's money is, at present, the only deal on offer?

It appears to everyone on the outside of this affair that City have been, at best, dragging their feet when it should have been simple. They are desperate for money and here is a man willing to give it to them.

On the face of it, City were all for it. Most of their shareholders - including the major and most influential ones like chairman Andrew Taylor and Davies, who are both declared supporters of the move - attended the extraordinary general meeting and unanimously gave the process the green light. But it has been such slow going ever since that the January transfer window might be missed.

If the wheels had been set in motion straight away, Mandaric could have been in place by now. Instead, there have been rumblings that the proposed takeover might go pear-shaped. More disturbing is the fact that the rumours are emanating from within the club.

Hopefully, when it comes to the crunch, the shareholders will follow the board's lead.

Mandaric should have been welcomed with open arms. Instead, he has been invited to only one game since expressing his interest, unfortunately the 4-1 home defeat by Sheffield Wednesday. And, to his credit, that was not enough to see him walk away right there and then!

Contrast that to Liverpool who, a few days after hearing of the interest from Dubai, had their representatives in their directors box at Anfield at the first opportunity.

But what is done is done, and the fact that Mandaric still wants the deal to happen after all that has gone on before, and after what was disclosed about City's financial hardship, speaks volumes for his commitment.

It is good news for all those like Taylor and Davies who want him on board.

Mandaric's commitment can also be measured by the near £500,000 he has already paid for the due diligence procedure. Mind you, that looks like money well spent.

Of course, it is now reasonably certain that his £25million bid will be shared out differently to what was initially proposed.

Any less money for shareholders, however, should be irrelevant as, after all, they all claim to be acting in the best interests of the club.

The alternative is that when the transfer window opens, players could be leaving instead of arriving - like young defender Richard Stearman, who has been linked with Aston Villa and Charlton.

This deal is not just a good move, it also looks like a lifeline

http://www.thebluearmy.co.uk/details.asp?key=1D29|0|2185366269754|R|536|54072320122006367473231

Merc still saying it's a 25m bid... But the 500k allegedly now spent on DD sounds interesting.

 

[Durham Fox]

Bill Anderson has had a brain transplant!! he has been talking sense for some weeks now

 

[Yorkshire Vixen]

thought it was quite well worded

 

[Real Sharapova]

thought it was quite well worded

Apart from the fact that the figures are probably a load of old cack ( he's still quoting £25 million FFS ).

 

[Yorkshire Vixen]

Apart from the fact that the figures are probably a load of old cack ( he's still quoting £25 million FFS ).

apart from the figures :icon_roll :icon_bigg

 

[Durham Fox]

Apart from the fact that the figures are probably a load of old cack ( he's still quoting £25 million FFS ).

Maybe he has a reason, he will certainly know more than you :icon_wink

 

[Real Sharapova]

Maybe he has a reason, he will certainly know more than you :icon_wink

He will know what he has been told - whether it's true or not is a completely different matter, and old Bill won't have done much due diligence on that.

 

[Durham Fox]

He will know what he has been told - whether it's true or not is a completely different matter, and old Bill won't have done much due diligence on that.

Have you then? I've heard a rumour Mr Mandaric has a huge stack of cash he wants to spend on us and quickly too!:icon_wink

 

[Real Sharapova]

Have you then?

Bill is the one who is supposed to be a journalist! However my sources tell me MM is £8 million light due to the foreign chappy at Portsmouth not having won the lottery last week.

 

[Durham Fox]

Bill is the one who is supposed to be a journalist! However my sources tell me MM is £8 million light due to the foreign chappy at Portsmouth not having won the lottery last week.

The £8m is a figure I've heard too but once it arrives, if it hasn't already then he needs to leave it in this country.

 

[Redditch Fox]

Bill Anderson has had a brain transplant!! he has been talking sense for some weeks now

Yes - when even people like Bill Anderson have smelt the coffee then we know how desparately we need MM.

I am so pessimistic now and feel great bitterness towards the likes of the Foxes Trust who had such mean spirits that they couldn't bring themselves to declare that the bottom line is that we need MM on board - and instead inferred that there might be other viable options to explore. What a sick joke!

 

[Durham Fox]

Yes - when even people like Bill Anderson have smelt the coffee then we know how desparately we need MM.

I am so pessimistic now and feel great bitterness towards the likes of the Foxes Trust who had such mean spirits that they couldn't bring themselves to declare that the bottom line is that we need MM on board - and instead inferred that there might be other viable options to explore. What a sick joke!

Agreed.

The ships sinking but the captain and his crew wont accept it.

 

[highland fox]

Without MM we are fecked,it's as simple as that.Nobody else is remotely interested in buying us and under the current regime we are slowly decaying.

 

[PFKAKTF FOX]

Agreed.

The ships sinking but the captain and his crew wont accept it.

Captain Pugwash, Master Bates and Seamen Stains

 

[Melton Fox]

Yes - when even people like Bill Anderson have smelt the coffee then we know how desparately we need MM.

I am so pessimistic now and feel great bitterness towards the likes of the Foxes Trust who had such mean spirits that they couldn't bring themselves to declare that the bottom line is that we need MM on board - and instead inferred that there might be other viable options to explore. What a sick joke!

Exactly how I feel, maybe a tad less bitterness towards the FT and more towards the idiots that don't want to give up their egos

They saved the club, and are now on the verge of destroying it. Get out now, you're loving it to death

 

[Boy Genius]

Without MM we are fecked,it's as simple as that.Nobody else is remotely interested in buying us and under the current regime we are slowly decaying.

and the current shareholders will not stump up any more cash otherwise they would have gone down that road with a rights issue a while back

 

[Dour]

The £8m is a figure I've heard too but once it arrives, if it hasn't already then he needs to leave it in this country.

That bit is a myth spun by MM.

 

[Boy Genius]

Yes - when even people like Bill Anderson have smelt the coffee then we know how desparately we need MM.

I am so pessimistic now and feel great bitterness towards the likes of the Foxes Trust who had such mean spirits that they couldn't bring themselves to declare that the bottom line is that we need MM on board - and instead inferred that there might be other viable options to explore. What a sick joke!

We have been banging out about FT and what they stand for, for a long while now.
Its time now for them to feck off

 

[Polar Bear]

Anything else the Foxes' Trust are supposed to have done while we're at it? Poisoned babies, suffocated grannies, defenestrated Mother Teresa's little helpers?

Where on earth is it proven that "the bottom line is that we need MM on board"? Of course, money to spend on players is a guaranteed route to success, look at how well we did last time... oh.

Having said that I think the mindless optimism that would be generated by the Lord of Lords riding into town on his feathered chariot could be harnessed to blow the club all the way to the Chumpions' League on a wave of hot air. And I am actually in favour of his advent! At least it would shake things up...

But to say the FT are "mean-spirited" because they (and presumably other shareholders) wanted to, heaven forfend, EXAMINE the proposal in detail and debunk some of the more lurid speculation is beyond belief. Remember the individuals concerned put in a lot of work helping to rescue the club four years ago. It is natural and proper that following that experience takeover proposals be treated with caution. If you'd built up bad debts on credit cards and almost lost your house you'd be more careful in the future. Wouldn't you?!?

I'm not even going to get into discussing the morality of being a rich man's whore...

 

[bocadillo]

Apart from the fact that the figures are probably a load of old cack ( he's still quoting £25 million FFS ).

There's no reason to think that £25M is not still the total figure involved. It has always been clear that this isn't the amount to be actually paid for the shares of the club; it is the overall figure that he would wish to spend. As the Mercury article states, it now looks likely that it will be shared out differently but there is no suggestion that the total amount of the package has been changed.